1. Field of the Invention
The embodiments described herein relate generally to screening systems, and more particularly, to a screening system for use in detecting a target material and a method of operating the same.
2. Description of Related Art
To facilitate preventing passengers boarding an aircraft or other carrier from carrying a concealed target material, passengers are screened prior to boarding. As used herein, a “target material” is any material for which a screening process may be performed to detect the material. In the exemplary embodiment, the target material is “contraband,” which refers herein to illegal substances, explosives, narcotics, weapons, a threat object, and/or any other material that a person is not allowed to possess in a restricted area, such as an airport. In at least one known screening system, passengers arriving at an airport terminal submit to an identity verification process and are requested to walk through a metal detector. In addition, the passengers' checked and carry-on luggage may be screened for evidence of concealed target materials.
While the current passenger screening process is reliable, there is typically no direct examination of the passengers for trace particles of a target material. This is due in part to the fact that an accuracy and a reliability of such trace particle examinations would be decreased by a tendency of minute trace particles to diffuse rapidly in an open and relatively well-ventilated space, such as a transportation terminal. It is also due in part to the fact that such examinations would increase a time and a cost required for, and therefore decrease an efficiency of, the security screening process at a transportation terminal.